I got really lucky. It truly was tough but I used a heat gun to get the red loc-tite to help release. My original shifter ball was absolutely destroyed though. We used a vice grip on the lower shaft and a huge pipe wrench on the upper.
So just purchased a new 24 M6 performance Z and really do not like the knob. Previous years seem to push towards it being 10m X 1.25 but want to make sure before ordering one. Anyone able to tell me for certain?